ANA and JAL Ground Boeing 787 Fleets After Emergency

All Nippon Airways Co. and Japan Airlines Co., the world’s largest users of Boeing Co. (BA) 787 jets, grounded their entire fleet of Dreamliners for today in the biggest blow yet to the troubled passenger jet’s image.

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“We have received reports from the control tower that they confirmed the smoke, and I have seen that passengers evacuated from the escape chute into the airport,” he said. “We have not confirmed if anyone on board was injured.”

Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported that all 129 passengers and eight crew members were safely evacuated.

The airport’s runways have been shut following the incident, said Yorimasa Tojo, a spokesman at the transport ministry’s Takamatsu airport bureau. “The runways will remain closed until we at least move the plane,” he said. All passengers have safely evacuated into the airport building, he said.

Shares of GS Yuasa Corp. (6674), which makes the lithium ion batteries for the 787, tumbled as much as 4.8 percent, the most since Oct. 23, in Tokyo trading.